The Young Hero: George Washington and the Battle of the Monongahela

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Weeks after the crushing British defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela, one Redcoat survivor wrote that "the yell of the Indians is as fresh on my ear, and the terrific sounds will haunt me until the hour of my dissolution."1 The sights and sounds from that July 9, 1755 clash between a French and Indian force led by Captain Daniel Beaujeu and General Edward Braddock’s army of British regulars, Indian allies, and American colonial troops produced some of the most terrifying scenes of primal warfare ever witnessed on American soil.

After crossing the Monongahela River earlier that morning, General Braddock’s troops were thrown into a desperate fight for survival as the French and their Indian warriors overwhelmed the British commander’s military convoy while it was advancing toward the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne, near modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Indian war cries filled the forest air as warriors took up positions behind tall trees along the high ground. Swiftly moving to encircle Braddock’s army, those Indian warriors quickly gained the advantage, inflicting so much damage with blunt force and firepower that British soldiers “dropped like Leaves in Autumn,” according to one eyewitness.2

As historian David L. Preston writes in his excellent history of the clash, Braddock’s Defeat, “The British rank and file experienced the battle enshrouded in white smoke, accented by flashes of yellowish light from the muzzles of Indian marksmen. Some testified that they never even saw their enemy in plain sight, or even a handful of warriors at any one time."3 Even when soldiers could see through the smoke and trees, they observed horrifying scenes such as their wounded comrades having their skulls smashed or their heads being scalped by Indian warriors. In the chaos and confusion of the one-sided battle, there were also many incidents of friendly fire as panicked British soldiers mistakenly shot down men from their own side.

In the end, the French and Indians achieved an overwhelming victory over General Braddock’s army at the Battle of the Monongahela. Of the roughly 1,400 men under British arms, approximately 977 were killed or wounded, including 63 officers. Of the estimated 900 men fighting on the French side, about 600 to 700 of whom were Indian warriors, only 23 were killed and 16 wounded. Both opposing commanders also lost their lives as a result of the battle; French Captain Beaujeu was felled by a British volley early in the engagement and General Braddock died a few days later after succumbing to the wounds he sustained during the clash. In what was the first major battle of the French and Indian War, the British had suffered an unmitigated military disaster.

Although the British ultimately went on to prevail in the imperial showdown over the French for dominance in North America, the memory of General Braddock’s defeat would linger for a long time in the consciousness of the British and the American colonists who played such a pivotal role in helping their mother country win the French and Indian War. As Preston notes, “Judging from political pamphlets, military treatises, newspapers, sermons, poems, and songs that frequently employed the word ‘American,’ no other battle before the American Revolution spawned more discussion of identity.”4 Preston concludes that the Battle of the Monongahela “fostered an already nascent American consciousness, defined by the colonists’ prolonged relationships to the continent and its Indian peoples, and sharpened by the friction they experienced while fighting alongside British regulars.”5

Some of the most prominent men who went on to fight for the American cause during the Revolutionary War were present at the Battle of the Monongahela, including the man who became the very heart and soul of America’s fight for independence, George Washington.

Young George Washington was serving as a volunteer aide on General Braddock’s staff during the Battle of the Monongahela. Still recovering from a case of dysentery and suffering from painful hemorrhoids, the 23-year-old Washington had strapped cushions to his saddle earlier that morning to help deal with the jolting agony of being on horseback. Despite his afflictions, he was fearless under fire and rode all over the battlefield. Washington was so active during the fight that he had two horses shot out from under him; four bullets tore through his clothes and one went through his hat. As Preston adds, Washington “would have been killed had he simply leaned in the saddle differently.”6 Dr. James Craik observed Washington on this unforgiving field of fire and reflected, “I expected every moment to see him fall. His duty and station exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.”7 In contemplating his survival of the bloody battle, Washington believed that “the all-powerful dispensations of Providence,” which was the word he often used to refer to God, had protected him “beyond all human probability and expectation.”8 In the wise and prophetic words of the Presbyterian minister, Samuel Davies, “I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved [him] in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.”9

Washington shined in the midst of the chaos, displaying dauntless bravery under fire and incredible leadership as he stepped up to fill the void left by so many wounded or fallen officers. He effectively supervised a retreat of the survivors and went on to ride forty miles through the night to track down reinforcements. His exploits on that day did not go unnoticed. Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie hailed the young warrior as the “hero of Monongahela,” and many other prominent individuals wrote to Washington to express their admiration for his heroism.10    

The Battle of the Monongahela was a defining moment in George Washington’s life, an experience that set him on the path to later becoming America’s matchless man during the fight for independence.

Notes:

1. David L. Preston, Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2018), 237.

2. Preston, 237.

3. Preston, 245.

4. Preston, 329.

5. Preston, 329.

6. Preston, 253.

7. Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (Penguin Books, 2011), 59.

8. George Washington to John A. Washington, 18 July 1755, George Washington's Mount Vernon, The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon.

9. Chernow, 61.

10. "Ten Facts About George Washington and the French and Indian War," George Washington's Mount Vernon.

Bibliography:

Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. Penguin Books, 2011.

Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The Indispensable Man. Little, Brown and Co, 1994.

Preston, David L. Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution. Oxford University Press, 2018.